Hi, Steve -

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" - a phrase more comfortable in the mouths of UFO-believers, to be sure, but you're right: applicable here, too.

On C14 dating: Another gem I found in that Google search was a "paper" on the topic as it relates specifically to Biblical archaeology. (The word "paper" is in quotes because I got the impression it's author is a Grondine-analog) It seems that a lot of the attributed dates, especially of older discoveries, were "synchronized" to Egyptian chronology, which has also come into question, based as it was on the Egyptians' own records, as opposed to being independently derived. The author claimed that using C14 dating to resynchronize artifacts and sites in the Levant - essentially, to establish its own chronology - will bring things more into alignment with Biblical sources.

As to the concept of atmospheric equilibrium - which I infer to mean that the previous assumption of a constant ratio of C12 to C14 was not, in fact, the case, and is throwing all of the old dates into question - that's new to me, too. Going to have to research that...

On Deuteronomy: Orthodox Jews (mostly) believe Torah to be the revealed word of God, all narrated to Moses while he was on Mt. Sinai (or Horeb, depending on whether it's the J or E manuscript) receiving the Tablets - which would preclude Aaron tying up the loose ends. There's some other interesting side effects to that belief - for instance, a reductio ad absurdum inference that the Hebrews had no creation story or patriarchal history until Moses learned it from the Pillar of Smoke and Fire. Unlikely.

I had it from my rabbi that Deuternomy surfaced during the reign of Josiah (here's an overview I found while Googling references for this post). Attribution of the book (or indeed, any of Torah) to Moses is a matter of faith, as is the "historicity" of the events described.

There's no clear, verifiable evidence for the existence of Jesus, either. "Truth" and "fact" are often different things, as I think you'll agree.

E'